


Diamonds or Twine

by alwaysforyouscully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14709959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysforyouscully/pseuds/alwaysforyouscully
Summary: I heard a song 'Diamonds or Twine' and I thought of MSR after IWTB.Mulder works to get Scully back.Angst with a little fluff





	Diamonds or Twine

Mulder knew Scully wasn't an over the top romantic. She didn't need flowers or cards or candy, well maybe chocolate, to know that he loved her.  
But he wanted her to feel special and early on he found small, what some would call insignificant, gestures, gave him great rewards. A shy Scully smile, a girlish giggle or a blush that would melt his heart.  
As their partnership moved from friends to lovers he picked his moments to woo her.  
It started simply, on a case in nowhere Texas, when one of the local deputies came in sporting 'It’s a Boy!’ cigars. Mulder put his in his suit pocket, forgetting it until he reached for his wallet after dinner.  
Scully was across the table, pushing her salad around her plate when Mulder startled her by grabbing her hand. On instinct, she tried to pull away but relaxed at the look on Mulder's face.  
“Marry me” he said and eased the cigar band on her finger.  
Scully blushed, ducked her head and whispered. “Mulder, stop. Not here, people will see.”  
She looked up as she spoke, her eyes watery and oh so beautiful.  
“Let's get out of here, okay.”  
Scully pulled her hand from his and she left him to pay the check.  
That night was the first time they had sex while on a case. Mulder above her, he reached to entwine their fingers when he felt the cool foil of the cigar band still on her finger. He vowed then to never let her forget what she meant to him.

***10 years later*****

Mulder sits on the floor of the bedroom, this room, their room is cold and empty with Scully gone. He can't, well he shouldn't blame her for leaving, even a saint like Scully can only take so much.  
He leans against the open closet door and can still smell the faint scent of her, her perfume, her lotion, his Scully. Tears well up and his throat clinches with emotion as he lays down on the closet floor. He grips her old sweatshirt to his face and cries into the threadbare fabric. As his sobs subside he rolls on his back and sees a small box on the floor, tucked under the shelf where she kept her shoes. He wipes his eyes and reaches under the shelf to retrieve it, it's a small wooden cigar box and he's never seen it before. Mulder shakes it and feels the contents shift but there's no sound. He wonders as he runs his hand over the top, why Scully would keep it hidden.  
Giving up emotions or feelings were not Scully's forte but he never knew her to outright hide something from him, not after all this time.  
He stands, box in one hand, the sweatshirt in the other and walks back to the bed. Mulder sits on the edge, staring at the box in his lap, realizing Scully left it behind. He hopes that fact alone means it's not important at all and not just not important anymore.  
He cracks the lid and freezes. The box is full of strings, ribbons and twine, all knotted in small circles. Mulder pushes the pieces around and his heart starts to race. He's cold and hot and breathless all at once, the box drops to the floor as he runs to the bathroom. He heaves last night's whiskey into the toilet crying out to Scully's God that this can't be true. He rests his forehead on the toilet seat as the memories come flooding back.

***

_It started as a way to control his restlessness when Scully wasn't with him. She had a way of calming him with a touch on his arm or a glance but when he was alone, he would fidget and as a way to busy his hands he would find a string or ribbon to twist into a small circle just the right size for her tiny finger. He would let his mind wander, while the meeting or briefing droned on and on, back to that night in the diner and that silly cigar band and the look on Scully’s face.  
Later when they met up at lunch or were watching a movie at home, Mulder would slip the newly knotted circle on her finger and whisper ‘marry me’. Scully never failed to warm his heart with a smile or kiss._

***

Mulder wipes his mouth and heads back to the bedroom. He picks up a handful of his makeshift rings and gently runs them though his fingers. Some stood out, their memory strong in his mind. The piece of burlap from the tree they planted after moving into this house and the blue satin one off William's baby blanket.  
He picks up a dark green felt one and sighs, a small smile coming to his lips. This one came from Scully’s FBI Ball gown, which he accidentally tore when she took him in her mouth while he was pressed up against the wall of a bathroom stall.  
He thinks about how these little stings always held a piece of his heart, the love he felt for her knotted through his fidgety fingers but the funny thing now is the fact she kept them all, each scrap of twine but equally as heartbreaking was that she left them behind. 

The next day Mulder started sending Scully an envelope each week with a note or photo and one of his knotted rings from her box. All week he worked on himself. He took his medicine, he went to his appointments and he boxed up the bulk of his office.  
His notes were short, like the ones he uesd to leave on the bathroom mirror or her laptop.  
“You feeling Spooky?” or sweeter ones like “I love waking up with your head on my chest.”  
He sent pictures when the words wouldn't come. Some days, waking up alone was just too much to bear. The pictures were of wild flowers blooming in the yard or their porch swing and even one of the big clawfoot tub in their bathroom.  
As the weeks went by the strings became fewer and the notes became longer. In the beginning, Scully had texted when an envelope arrived, then she started calling and they would talk for a few minutes. The calls turned to lunches, then to dinners. She was cautious with her words but still so loving.  
Four months later, Mulder sealed the last ring, picture and note in a small box, his hand shaking as he dropped it off the the mailbox.  
Scully has been anxious all day, usually she would have received an envelope by now but yesterday when she rushed home, there was still no note, no twine circle.  
She knows it's her fault, last week after she and Mulder had dinner, she kissed him. Well, in truth, she attacked his mouth like a love sick teenager.  
Since she saw Mulder the first time after she left, Scully had been trying to take things slow. She didn't want to lead him on or herself for that matter. It would be so easy to just go back, to be in love with Mulder again but as the weeks stretched to months, she found it harder to stay away, to not call each night or ask him to come over. So when she came home to the small box by her door, she broke down. Scully wasn't sure if it was relief to finally get a note from Mulder or the fact that he hasn't given up and just quit trying again.  
She ripped open the box and a green felt ring fell out, along with a picture of their bed and a note that read, I miss you, please come home. 

She knocks on their front door, unsure and anxious of what is about to happen. Her world revolves around this man, this house, this life and it's taken Mulder reminding her of what they had and lost to need it again so desperately.  
Mulder opens the door in a dark sweater and jeans, hair askew and grin on his face.“  
Hey, Doc?”  
Scully hears the question in his voice and falters a bit. Her resolve buried by the pounding in her chest.  
“Hi, I was… I wanted...well”  
Mulder stops her stuttering by ushering her across the threshold and pulling her to his chest. Scully lets out a long breath and relaxes against his body.  
“God, Mulder. How did we get here?”  
Mulder takes her face in his hands and kisses her softly, running his thumbs under his eyes to catch her tears.  
"Well the Scullys are a stubborn bunch.”  
Scully giggles and relaxes further, circling her arms around his waist. Mulder kisses the top of her head and heaves a deep breath of his own.  
"I'm so sorry I lost sight of us, of what was truly important. You are my life Scully and I never want you to doubt that again.” 

They settle in to watch TV and Mulder just can't not ask any longer  
“So I was wondering Scully why didn't you take the box with you?”  
Scully runs her hand over his forearm then leans down to pick up her purse.  
“It's not that they aren't special Mulder”, she reaches in her purse and pulls out a small ring box.  
She hands Mulder the box and he sits staring at the box dumbfounded. “What's this?”  
Scully takes the box from his hand and opens it.  
“It's just this one, this one's always been my favorite, it was the first.”  
Mulder stares for a second at the baby blue cigar band then plucks it from the box. He gently takes Scully's hand and slips the foil on her finger. “Marry me.” he whispers before capturing her lips.


End file.
